The goal of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study(NCSCS) for Science is to achieve scientific literacy. The National Science Education Standards define scientific literacy as "the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for scientific decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity." (p. 22)
The tenets of scientific literacy include the ability to:
Find or determine answers to questions derived from everyday experiences.
Describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena.
Understand articles about science.
Engage in non-technical conversation about the validity of conclusions.
Identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions.
Pose explanations based on evidence derived from one's own work.
North Carolina students can achieve scientific literacy through an instructional program based on the science component of the Standard Course of Study for Science. The SCS is designed to merge unifying concepts of science, strands, content goals, and objectives.
These unifying concepts are:
Systems, Order and Organization
Evidence, Models, and Explanation
Constancy, Change, and Measurement
Evolution and Equilibrium
Form and Function
The strands include:
Nature of Science
Science as Inquiry
Science and Technology
Science in Social and Personal Perspectives
MIDDLE GRADES 6-8
The middle school science component of the SCS focuses on the Unifying Concepts of Science as identified by the National Science Education Standards. The unifying concepts and the Strands should be integrated with science content goals and objectives for middle school.
The Unifying Concepts of Science consist of:
Systems, Order, and Organization
Evidence, Models, and Explanation.
Constancy, Change, and Measurement.
Evolution and Equilibrium.
Form and Function.
The Strands include the following goals:
Nature of Science
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
Science as a human endeavor.
Nature of scientific knowledge.
Historical perspectives.
Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
Ability to do scientific inquiry.
Understanding about scientific inquiry.
Ability to perform safe and appropriate manipulation of materials, scientific equipment, and technology.
Mastery of integrated process skills.
acquiring, processing, and interpreting data
identifying variables and their relationships
designing investigations
experimenting
analyzing investigations
constructing hypotheses
formulating models
Science and Technology
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
What technologies are.
Ability to perform technological design.
Understanding science and technology.
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
Personal and community health.
Population dynamics.
Environmental quality.
Natural and human-induced hazards.
Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges.
The National Science Education Standards were produced by the National Research Council in 1995 and published in 1996. The Standards were the result of four years of work by twenty-two scientific and science education societies and over 18,000 individual contributors. The National Science Teachers Association is now part of an ongoing effort to implement the Standards in classrooms throughout the country.
Unlike other documents, the Standards deal concurrently with six aspects of science education:
Standards for science teaching (Chapter 3).
Standards for professional development for teachers of science (Chapter 4).
Standards for assessment in science education (Chapter 5).
Standards for science content (Chapter 6).
Standards for science education programs (Chapter 7).
Standards for science education systems (Chapter 8).
Standards are not a curriculum. They are not a set of lesson plans. They are goals for achievement that are appropriate for all members of the science education community.
The goal of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study(NCSCS) for Science is to achieve scientific literacy. The National Science Education Standards define scientific literacy as "the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for scientific decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity." (p. 22)
The tenets of scientific literacy include the ability to:
North Carolina students can achieve scientific literacy through an instructional program based on the science component of the Standard Course of Study for Science. The SCS is designed to merge unifying concepts of science, strands, content goals, and objectives.
These unifying concepts are:
The strands include:
MIDDLE GRADES 6-8
The middle school science component of the SCS focuses on the Unifying Concepts of Science as identified by the National Science Education Standards. The unifying concepts and the Strands should be integrated with science content goals and objectives for middle school.
The Strands include the following goals:
Nature of Science
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
Science and Technology
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
As a result of activities in grades 6-8, all students should develop an understanding of:
North Carolina Standard Course of Study
National Science Education Standards
The National Science Education Standards were produced by the National Research Council in 1995 and published in 1996. The Standards were the result of four years of work by twenty-two scientific and science education societies and over 18,000 individual contributors. The National Science Teachers Association is now part of an ongoing effort to implement the Standards in classrooms throughout the country.Unlike other documents, the Standards deal concurrently with six aspects of science education:
Standards are not a curriculum. They are not a set of lesson plans. They are goals for achievement that are appropriate for all members of the science education community.
National Science Education Standards
National Science Teachers Association
Science - 6th Grade
Science - 7th Grade
Science - 8th Grade